Hey Everyone! Here is Adrienne's most recent letter. Sorry it's been a few weeks since I posted last. She is getting better at Tagalog and enjoying the rain. :)
Thanks for your emails! Yeah,
learning a new language is tough. that's an understatement. I realized though
that I've already been blessed with the interpretation of tongues I think
because i can understand about 90% of tagalog. it's just speaking it and
speaking it correctly that's hard. so i fasted that i would have the courage to
speak and know what to say and how to say it when the time comes that i really
need to use it, which is every day and every lesson haha. the answer i received
was, keep doing your part. keep trying your best. don't forget to work hard.
man, not the answer i wanted. but i know its true. that we have to seriously do
ALL we can. like every single itty bitty thing and THEN the lord makes up the
rest. And maybe I've been hoping for him to pick up a little bit more than his
share. so I’m going to work harder than ever this week so that i see SOME kind
of improvement. It's frustrating but I'm trying to have faith and be patient
that it will come. thank you for all your support and understanding and
prayers. Mondays are so rejuvenating when I hear that you are all rooting for
me and thinking about me.
Yes, I'm constantly sweating. It's
gross but we take a shower (pour water from a bucket over us haha) every night
and every morning and the rainy season is starting so I think that will help.
it's already been a tiny bit cooler. i actually love when it rains because it
pours so hard and then it's cool and a little windy afterward. i am not looking
forward to it flooding though! the weather here is totally like Texas weather
except there's no ac. I don't miss it too much though because everyone has
electric fans, like every family owns at least three haha. so it's not so bad.
I feel like they are telling the
missionaries to trust in the spirit and rely on the lord and so missionaries
feel like they don't have to prepare. but that's not it! Sister Drio is getting
better at helping me prepare and the other day she actually told me she thinks
I'll be ready to train in 9 weeks. HA! i don't think i will but it was nice to
hear a compliment from her. Mom, I miss your cooking my mouth is watering right
now just thinking about it! I've actually lost some weight since I've come here
with all the walking we've done and we haven't really eaten any sweets.
Today we went to Eco park-this famous
foresty park in La Mesa with our district. The park was gorgeous! there are so
many different kinds of cool plants here and everything is so lush and
colorful! i love it! maybe next week i'll send some pics!
The work is going good, we had a lot
of less actives come to church on Sunday so that was exciting! A ton of the
time we go to appointments and people aren't home or they say we can come back
and then they text us saying they've changed their minds. That's tough but
there is one guy that is really interested and yesterday he asked us if man
could see God. I shared the first vision with him and he seemed enthralled.
He's 24 and his name is Jerome. his aunt is a less active member. so hopefully
something will happen with him. His first language is Ilocano and he is super
shy and quiet so i have a hard time understanding him but i always feel the
spirit when we teach him.
As far as the food…we only eat with
the members once a week on Sunday. but yesterday we had this fish and they
didn't take the skin or bones off at all and it still had its mouth and eyes
and everything. then for dessert they served chicken head! OH my gosh. The fish
was pretty good but I think I was supposed to eat more of it than i did cause
the sister was like, are you done already? i was like yeah...(what am i
supposed to do? eat the fat and the bones too?) and then she brought out the
chicken head and the whole family and missionaries watched me eat it cause they
knew it was my first time. The brain tasted sick and grainy and then the eyes
were all squishy and cold. ugh. I can't believe i ate that. but i had no
choice! as soon as we got home i had a tuna sandwich and ice cream. lol. they
said next week they're making me chicken intestines and balut. greeeeaat....i
told them i received a revelation i was going to be sick that day. they were
like, oh you're a prophet?! haha. Usually we eat on our own and i make a
sandwich or spaghetti or pancakes, but sometimes my companion Sister Drio cooks
rice and okra or something like that and it's usually pretty good. So yeah, I'm
pretty sure I’ll want to eat your home cooked meals when i get home hahaha.
i'll be so sick of rice by then!
Well here is my actual address where
I will get mail once every 3 weeks : Philippines Quezon City North Mission P.O.
Box #1243 Quezon City Central Post Office Nia Road, Diliman 1100 Quezon City,
Philippines. So send me pouches! you just send them like a regular letter with
one stamp and write pouch on the front and i think it gets sent to me just
fine. cause that’s what i do if i want to send a letter home.
Anyway, thanks for the language
encouragement. It is slowly getting a tiny bit better each day but still pray
for me! I talk to sister Drio in English mostly but i try to speak in tagalog
when i know how to say it. the members i don't talk to much, but if i do its in
tagalog. all the other missionaries I talk to in English. I love when we get together
with our district cause I can talk to the American missionaries without having
to think really hard about what I'm going to say and how I'm going to say it.
Sometimes Sister Drio's English is really bad and i have a hard time
understanding her. like the other day she said, "oh man if he does that
i'm gonna piss on him!" i gasped and started laughing and she was like,
"what? is that bad?" so i explained to her what it meant and she was
like, "oh i was trying to say i'm going to be mad!" haha it was so
funny but i think she was really embarrassed. sometimes it makes me feel better
though to know that english for her is kinda like tagalog for me. Like the
other day i told this guy that joseph smith was a living prophet when i meant
to say true prophet. and i say house instead of life all the time. cause house
is bahay and life is buhay. so i'll be like, " in the premortal house,
blah blah blah" lol. but we had a training meeting the other day and all
the trainees were saying they are having trouble with the language so that made
me feel a little better.
Lyn Harris!-How are you? How is work
and Jaclyn!? Thanks for reading my blog, I am so happy to know that I have your
support and love. I Miss your beautiful family! :)
Well, keep writing me and encouraging
me and telling me everything-the good and the bad! I love you so much and think
about ya'll all the time! the fact that you and dad went on a mission is such a
comfort to me! I know I can do this with the Lord's help and your prayers! I
know the church is true and Dad I'm sending you a fathers day letter but it
might get there kinda late! I love you! Have a great week!
Love, Age
